Conservative bloggers rushed to defend Scott Walker Wednesday, dismissing many signatures on the recall petition as fraudulent, even as liberals celebrated the effort and derided Wisconsin’s Republican governor for being in New York City for a fundraiser when the petitions were turned in.

“The petition process was riddled with fraud and tainted with questionable ethics at several points,” wrote Brian Sikma at the conservative Big Government blog.

“Even the Government Accountability Board’s announcement that it will use software to help catch duplicates, though a step in the right direction, doesn’t promise to catch every or even most of those kinds of errors,” added Sikma.

United Wisconsin, the group that is seeking to recall Walker, submitted approximately 1 million signatures on Tuesday, nearly double the required number. A date for the likely recall election hasn’t been set but it is expected to be some time later this year.

Those on the right questioned the 1 million signatures figure, claiming the numbers had been illegitimately inflated. One blogger at RedState decried “union bosses” for underhanded tactics to “pad their petition numbers.”

“Major national labor organizations have dumped millions into Wisconsin to stop Governor Walker’s reforms and with the integrity of these petitions being questioned; they have shown their true colors,” wrote Drew Ryan at the conservative blog.

“Perhaps the most egregious example was discovered when one man admitted signing a recall petition 80 times because he thought President George W. Bush cheated in the 2000 election… As the process moves forward, we will see thousands more completely ineligible individuals on big labor’s petitions,” he added.

In addition, conservatives remarked that it would be difficult to verify the signatures. “Democrats said their signature total excludes duplicates and fraudulent names, although they conceded ‘some might slip through,’” added National Review Online’s Christian Schneider.

Meanwhile, liberals celebrated what they saw as the first step in removing Walker, who’s come under fire nationally for curtailing public employee collective bargaining rights.

“Scott Walker should be afraid, very afraid, of the opposition he has unleashed in a state where it is now clear that the people are prepared to defend their rights, and their future,” wrote John Nichols at The Nation.

Walker was in New York City for an AIG fundraiser when the recall signatures were submitted, reports the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, a move that progressive bloggers both derided and noted as a challenge.

“There are more battles to come. Walker has some pretty significant deep pockets supporting him and was, at the time the petitions were delivered, in NYC at a $2,500/head fundraiser,” warned Nicolle Belle at Crooks &Liars.

“Yeah, I remember when AIG went broke and destroyed the global economy. Good to know they’ve got Scott Walker’s back,” wrote a blogger at the Booman Tribune.